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The Ashtavakra Gita or the Song of Ashtavakra, also known as The Song of the Eightfold Cripple, the Ashtavakra Gita or the Ashtavakra Samhita scripture which documents a dialogue between the Perfect Master Ashtavakra and Janaka, the King of Mithila.

There are 298 stanzas of the Gita dwelling on various aspects of liberation, have no reference to God. Ashtavakra's discourse is divided into 20 chapters, which deal with detachment, quietude, wisdom, happiness, tranquillity, self-knowledge, peace, self-repose and liberation.

Ashavakra Gita

Part I - Part II - Part III

Ashtavakra said:

You are not bound by anything. What does a pure person like you need to renounce? Putting the complex organism to rest, you can go to your rest.

5.1 All this arises out of you, like a bubble out of the sea. Knowing yourself like this to be but one, you can go to your rest.

5.2 In spite of being in front of your eyes, all this, being insubstantial, does not exist in you, spotless as you are. It is an appearance like the snake in a rope, so you can go to your rest.

5.3 Equal in pain and in pleasure, equal in hope and in disappointment, equal in life and in death, and complete as you are, you can go to your rest.

5.4 Ashtavakra said I am infinite like space, and the natural world is like a jar. To know this is knowledge, and then there is neither renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it.

6.1 I am like the ocean, and the multiplicity of objects is comparable to a wave. To know this is knowledge, and here there is neither renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it.

6.2 I am like the mother of pearl, and the imagined world is like the silver. To know this is knowledge, and here there is neither renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it.

6.3 Alternatively, I am in all beings, and all beings are in me. To know this is knowledge, and here there is neither renunciation, acceptance or cessation of it. Janaka said It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the world ark wanders here and there, driven by its own wind. I am not upset by that.

7.1 Let the world wave of its own nature rise or vanish in the infinite ocean of myself. There is no increase or diminution to me from it.

7.2 It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the imagination called the world takes place. I am supremely peaceful and formless, and as such I remain.

7.3 My true nature is not contained in objects, nor does any object exist in it, for it is infinite and spotless. So it is unattached, desireless and at peace, and as such I remain.

7.4 Truly I am but pure consciousness, and the world is like a conjuror's show, so how could I imagine there is anything here to take up or reject ?

7.5 Ashtavakra said Bondage is when the mind longs for something, grieves about something, rejects something, holds on to something, is pleased about something or displeased about something.

8.1 Liberation is when the mind does not long for anything, grieve about anything, reject anything, or hold on to anything, and is not pleased about anything or displeased about anything.

8.2 Bondage is when the mind is tangled in one of the senses, and liberation is when the mind is not tangled in any of the senses.

8.3 When there is no `me', that is liberation, and when there is me there is bondage. Considering this earnestly, I do not hold on and do not reject.

8.4 Ashtavakra said Knowing when the dualism of things done and undone has been put to rest, or the person for whom they occur has been cognised, then you can here and now go beyond renunciation and obligations by indifference to such things.

9.1 Rare indeed, my dearest, is the lucky person whose observation of the world's behaviour has led to the extinction of the thirst for living, for pleasure and for knowledge.

9.2 All this is impermanent and spoilt by the three sorts of pain. Recognising it to be insubstantial, contemptible and only fit for indifference, one attains peace.

9.3 When was that age or time of life when the dualism of extremes did not exist for people? Abandoning them, a person happy to take whatever comes suddenly realises perfection.

9.4 Who does not end up with indifference to such things and attain peace when he has seen the differences of opinions among the great sages, saints and yogis?

9.5 Is he not a guru who, endowed with dispassion and equanimity, achieves full knowledge of the nature of consciousness, and so leads others out of samsara?

9.6 If you would just see the transformations of the elements as nothing more than the elements, then  18 you would immediately be freed from all bonds and established in your own nature.

9.7 One's inclinations are samsara. Knowing this, abandon them. The renunciation of them is the renunciation of it. Now you can remain as you are.

9.8 Ashtavakra said Abandoning desire, the enemy, along with gain, itself so full of loss, and the good deeds which are the cause of the other two - I practice indifference to everything.

10.1 I look on such things as friends, land, money, property, wife, and bequests as nothing but as a dream or a three or five-day conjuror's show.

10.2 Wherever a desire occurs, I see samsara in it. Establishing myself in firm dispassion, I be free of passion and happy.

10.3 The essential nature of bondage is nothing other than desire, and its elimination is known as liberation. It is simply by not being attached to changing things that the everlasting joy of attainment is reached.

10.4 You are one, conscious and pure, while all this is just inert non-being. Ignorance itself is nothing, so what need have you of desire to understand?

10.5 Kingdoms, children, wives, bodies, pleasures - these have all been lost to you life after life, attached to them though you were.

10.6 Enough of wealth, sensuality and good deeds. In the forest of samsara the mind has never found satisfaction in these.

10.7 How many births have you not done hard and painful labour with body, mind and speech. Now at last stop!

10.8 Ashtavakra said Unmoved and undistressed, realising now that being, non-being and transformation are of the very nature of things, one easily finds peace.

11.1 At peace, having shed all desires within, and realising that nothing exists here but the Lord, the Creator of all things, one is no longer attached to anything.

11.2 Realising that misfortune and fortune come in their turn from fate, one is contented, one's senses under control, and one does not like or dislike.

11.3 Realising that pleasure and pain, birth and death are from fate, and that one's desires cannot be achieved, one remains inactive, and even when acting does not get attached.

11.4 Realising that suffering arises from nothing other than thinking, dropping all desires one rids oneself of it, and is happy and at peace everywhere.

11.5 Realising `I am not the body, nor is the body mine; I am awareness,' one attains the supreme state and no longer fritters over things done or undone.

11.6 Realising, `It is just me, from Brahma down to the last blade of grass,' one becomes free from uncertainty, pure, at peace and unconcerned about what has been attained or not.

11.7 Realising that all this varied and wonderful world is nothing, one becomes pure receptivity, free  22 from inclinations, and as if nothing existed, one finds peace.

11.8 Janaka said First of all I was averse to physical activity, then to lengthy speech, and finally to thinking itself, which is why I am now established.

12.1 In the absence of delight in sound and the other senses, and by the fact that I myself am not an object of the senses, my mind is focused and free from distraction - which is why I am now established.

12.2 Owing to the distraction of such things as wrong identification, one is driven to strive for mental stillness. Recognising this pattern I am now established.

12.3 By relinquishing the sense of rejection and acceptance, and with pleasure and disappointment ceasing today, so Brahmin, I am now established.

12.4 Life in a community, then going beyond such a state, meditation and the elimination of mind-made objects - by means of these I have seen my error, and I am now established.

12.5 Just as the performance of actions is due to ignorance, so their abandonment is too. By fully recognising this truth, I am now established.

12.6 Trying to think the unthinkable is unnatural to thought. Abandoning such a practice therefore, I am now established.

12.7 He who has achieved this has achieved the goal of life. He who is of such a nature has done what has to be done.

12.8 Janaka said The inner freedom of having nothing is hard to achieve, even with just a loin-cloth, but I live as I please abandoning both renunciation and acquisition.

13.1 Sometimes one experiences distress because of one's body, sometimes because of one's tongue, and sometimes because of one's mind. Abandoning all of these in the goal of being human I live as I please.

13.2 Recognising that in reality no action is ever committed, I live as I please, just attending what presents itself to be done.

13.3 Mystics who identify themselves with bodies are insistent on fulfilling and avoiding certain actions, but I live as I please abandoning attachment and rejection.

13.4 No benefit or loss comes to me by standing, walking or lying down, so consequently I live as I please whether standing, walking or sleeping.

13.5 I lose nothing by sleeping and gain nothing by effort, so consequently I live as I please, abandoning loss and success.

13.6 Frequently observing the drawbacks of such things as pleasant objects, I live as I please, abandoning the pleasant and unpleasant.

13.7 Janaka said He who by nature is empty-minded, and who thinks of things only unintentionally, is freed from deliberate remembering, like one awakened from a dream.

14.1 As my desire has been eliminated, I have no wealth, friends, robbers, senses, scriptures or knowledge.

14.2 Realising my supreme self-nature in the Person of the Witness, the Lord, and the state of desirelessness in bondage or liberation, I feel no inclination for liberation.

14.3 The various states of one who is empty of uncertainty within, and who outwardly wanders about as he pleases, like a madman, can only be known by someone in the same condition.

14.4 Ashtavakra said While a person of pure intelligence may achieve the goal by the most casual of instructions, another may seek knowledge all one's life and still remain bewildered.

15.1 Liberation is indifference to the objects of the senses. Bondage is love of the senses. This is knowledge. Now do as you please.

15.2 This awareness of the truth makes an eloquent, clever and energetic person dumb, stupid and lazy, so it is avoided by those whose aim is enjoyment or praise.

15.3 You are not the body, nor is the body yours, nor are you the doer of actions nor the reaper of their consequences. You are eternally pure consciousness the witness, in need of nothing - so live happily.

15.4 Desire and anger are objects of the mind, but the mind is not yours, nor ever has been. You are choiceless awareness itself, unchanging - so live happily.

15.5 Recognising oneself in all beings, and all beings in oneself, be happy, free from the sense of responsibility and free from preoccupation with me.

15.6 Your nature is the consciousness, in which the whole world wells up, like waves in the sea. That is  28 what you are, without any doubt, so be free of disturbance.

15.7 Have faith, my dearest, have faith. Don't let yourself be deluded in this. You are yourself the Lord, whose property is knowledge- you are beyond natural causation.

15.8 The body invested with the senses stands still and comes and goes. You yourself neither come nor go, so why bother about them?

15.9 Let the body last to the end of the Age, or let it come to an end right now. What have you, who consist of pure consciousness, gained or lost?

15.10 Let the world-wave rise or subside according to its own nature in you, the great ocean. It is no gain or loss to you.

15.11 My dearest, you consist of pure consciousness, and the world is not separate from you. So who is to accept or reject it, and how, and why?

15.12 How can there be either birth, karma or responsibility in that one unchanging, peaceful, unblemished and infinite consciousness which is you?

15.13 Whatever you see, it is you alone manifest in it. How could bracelets, armlets and anklets be different from the gold?

15.14 Giving up such distinctions as `That is what I am,' and `I am not That', recognise that Everything is Self, and be, without distinction, and be happy.

15.15 It is through your ignorance that all this exists. In reality you alone exist. Apart from you there is no one within or beyond samsara.

15.16 Knowing that all this is an illusion, one becomes free of desire, pure receptivity and at peace, as if nothing existed.

15.17 Only one thing has existed, exists and will exist in the ocean of being. You have no bondage or liberation. Live happily and fulfilled.

15.18 Being pure consciousness, do not disturb your mind with thoughts of for/against. Be at peace and remain happily in yourself, the essence of joy.

15.19 Give up meditation completely and cling to nothing in your mind. You are free in your very nature, so what will you achieve by conceiving?

15.20  30 Ashtavakra said My dearest, you may recite or listen to countless scriptures, but you will not be established within until you can forget everything.

16.1 You may, as a learned man, indulge in wealth, activity and meditation, but your mind will still long for that which is the cessation of desire, beyond all goals.

16.2 Everyone is in pain because of their own effort, but no one realises it. By just this very instruction, the lucky one attains tranquillity.

16.3 Happiness belongs to no one but that supremely lazy person for whom even opening and closing one's eyes is a bother.

16.4 When the mind is freed from such pairs of opposites as `I have done this,' and `I have not done that,' it becomes indifferent to merit, wealth, sensuality and liberation.

16.5 One person is abstemious and is averse to the senses, another is greedy and attached to them, but he who is free from both taking and rejecting is neither abstemious nor greedy.

16.6 So long as desire, which is the state of lacking discrimination, remains, the sense of revulsion and attraction will remain; that is the root and branch of samsara.

16.7 Desire springs from usage, and aversion from abstention, but the wise person is free from the pairs  31 of opposites like a child, and becomes established.

16.8 The passionate person wants to be rid of samsara so as to avoid pain, but the dispassionate person is without pain and feels no distress even in it.

16.9 One who is proud about even liberation or one's own body, and feels them one's own, is neither a seer or a mystic. Such a person is still just a sufferer.

16.10 If even Shiva, Vishnu or the lotus-born Brahma were your instructor, until you have forgotten everything you cannot be established within.

16.11 Ashtavakra said He who is content, with purified senses, and always enjoys solitude, has gained the fruit of knowledge and the fruit of the practice of union too.

17.1 The knower of truth is never distressed in this world, for the whole round world is full of himself alone.

17.2 None of the senses please a person who has found satisfaction within, just as grape leaves do not please the elephant that likes mango leaves.

17.3 The person who is not attached to the things he has enjoyed, and does not hanker after the things he has not enjoyed, such a person is hard to find.

17.4 Those who desire pleasure and those who desire liberation are both bound in samsara; the greatsouled person who desires neither pleasure nor liberation is rare indeed.

17.5 It is only the noble minded who is free from attraction or repulsion to religion, wealth, sensuality, and life and death too.

17.6 Such a one feels no desire for the elimination of all this, nor anger at its continuing, so the lucky person lives happily with whatever sustenance presents itself.

17.7 Thus fulfilled through this knowledge, contented, the thinking-mind emptied, one lives happily just seeing when seeing, just hearing when hearing, just feeling when feeling, just smelling when smelling and just tasting when tasting.

17.8 In one for whom the ocean of samsara has dried up, there is neither attachment or aversion. Such a one's gaze is vacant, behaviour purposeless, and senses never grappling.

17.9 Surely the supreme state is everywhere for the liberated mind. Such a one is neither awake or asleep, and neither opens or closes the eyes.

17.10 The liberated one is resplendent everywhere, free from all desires. Everywhere such a one appears self-possessed and pure of heart.

17.11 Seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, speaking and walking about, the great-souled person who is freed from trying to achieve or avoid anything is free indeed.

17.12 The liberated person is free from desires everywhere. Such a one neither blames, praises, rejoices, is disappointed, gives nor takes.

17.13 When a great souled one is unperturbed in mind and self-possessed at either the sight of a mate eager with desire, or at fast-approaching death, that one is truly liberated.

17.14 There is no distinction between pleasure and pain, man and woman, success and failure for the wise person who looks on everything as equal.

17.15 There is no aggression or compassion, no pride or humility, no wonder or confusion for the person whose days of running about are over.

17.16 The liberated person is not averse to the senses and nor is he attached to them. He enjoys himself  34 continually with an unattached mind in both achievement and non-achievement.

17.17 One established in the absolute state with an empty mind does not know the alternatives of inner stillness and lack of inner stillness, and of good and evil.

17.18 Free of me and mine and of a sense of responsibility, aware that nothing exists, with all desires extinguished within, a person does not act even in acting.

17.19 One whose thinking mind is dissolved achieves the indescribable state and is free from the mental display of delusion, dream and ignorance.

17.20 Ashtavakra said Praise be to that by the awareness of which delusion itself becomes dream-like, to that which is pure happiness, peace and light.

18.1 One may get all sorts of pleasure by the acquisition of various objects of enjoyment, but one cannot be happy except by the renunciation of everything.

18.2 How can there be happiness, for one who has been burnt inside by the blistering sun of the pain of things that need doing, without the rain of the nectar of peace?

18.3 This existence is just imagination. It is nothing in reality, but there is no non-being for natures that know how to distinguish being from not being.

18.4 The realm of one's self is not far away, and nor can it be achieved by the addition of limitations to its nature. It is unimaginable, effortless, unchanging and spotless.

18.5 By the simple elimination of delusion and the recognition of one's true nature, those whose vision is unclouded live, free from sorrow.

18.6 Knowing everything as just imagination, and oneself as eternally free, how should the wise person behave like a fool?

18.7 Knowing oneself to be God and being and nonbeing just imagination, what should the person free from desire learn, say or do?

18.8 Considerations like `I am this' or `I am not this' are finished for the mystic who has gone silent realising `Everything is myself'.

18.9 For the mystic who has found peace, there is no distraction or one-pointedness, no higher knowledge or ignorance, no pleasure and no pain.

18.10 The dominion of heaven or beggary, gain or loss, life in society or in the forest, these make no difference to a mystic whose nature is free from distinctions.

18.11 There is no religion, wealth, sensuality or discrimination for a mystic free from the pairs of opposites such as `I have done this' and `I have not done that.'

18.12 There is nothing needing to be done, or any attachment in one's heart for the mystic liberated while still alive. Things are so for the life-time.

18.13 There is no delusion, world, meditation on That, or liberation for the pacified great soul. All these things are just the realm of imagination.

18.14 Whoever sees all this may well make out it doesn't exist, but what is the desireless one to do, eh? Even in seeing, one does not see it.

18.15 He by whom the Supreme Brahman is seen may think `Ah I am Brahma,' but what is he to think who is without thought, and who sees no duality.

18.16 He by whom inner distraction is seen may put an end to it, but the noble one is not distracted. When there is nothing to achieve what is he to do?

Ashavakra Gita

Part I - Part II - Part III